Five-Star Disability

Hi there folks near and far, mostly far, some near!

How are you today? Good? Great?

Me? How am I? I just got out of a hot bath after walking the dog, it was kinda cold out this morning! So the heat is prodding me, especially my head! In other words I am good!

Speaking — or should I say ‘typing’? I’m not actually using my larynx to produce any spoken words — about walking the dog, specifically about me using my power wheelchair (nicknamed CJ-3) to transverse the community I live in, and the city I venture to often. I want to get something off my chest, something important, something that Allie Turner described recently…

Since I gained my wheels, summer of 2021, I’ve had pile-ups, stuck-ups, crash-ups etc. These accidents resulted in me being stuck, right. Not including the crash that happened at the end of September 2022, that one I needed professional, read firemen, help. I am referring to less drastic “derailments” when the casual bystander flexed their muscles to get me unstuck.

Some examples:
– I’ve gone off sidewalks, those with the two inch drop to ground dirt are most annoying,
– I’ve been stuck in mud,
– I’ve been stuck in sand trap while a sidewalk was being repaired. Yes, there were orange pylons and “do not cross” tape, blocking the immediate street, but the sidewalk was not barred.
– I’ve been stuck in snow drifts.
– I’ve run into fences, glass barriers (luckily nothing broken), and other barriers.
– Two weeks ago, I drove pretty fast into a barrier that was indiscernible from the ground. The impact smashed the footrest back! It needs to be replaced. Thanks Translink.
– I’ve hit curbs and jumped sidewalks.
– I’ve recited enough, any more and my wife will probably impound CJ-3!

In most situations, I’ve had people, strangers, stop what they are doing, to help me! And I want to…

Offer a heartfelt Thank You!

Thank you to the guys from the car dealership who flung down their tools, raced to the sand trap, emancipating CJ-3. Thank you to the countless men who stopped their cars to wrestle CJ-3 from various depths of gardens to put CJ-3 wheels on sidewalks. Special thanks goes to the family in North Burnaby who dragged CJ-3 from their bed of gravel seven inches to the sidewalk. I should also thank the DoorDash delivery person who single-handedly inched CJ-3 10 inches from wet, no traction grass, to sidewalk. And, I do imply single-handedly, he didn’t put his order down!

Why am I taking the time to write this blog? Why am I thanking everyone en masse here? I feel somewhat guilty, I am DeafBlind, I offer my thanks with either a thumbs up, or an elbow bump. Maybe some guy helped, but he didn’t see my thumb, my great smile, or was offered an elbow.

My thank you is visual, not verbal. With my vocal cords messed up, the usual hearty Thank You can sound a lot like an expletive. Don’t want that do we!

Okay, enough, I’ve done thanking everyone! Wait! Sorry…

Thank you for reading, liking, sharing, donating and reading this blog!

Yes, I did say reading twice… did you notice!

Off you go…